So … yeah. I haven’t posted in about 1.5 years, but today marks the day I started this blog 13 years ago.

It’s hard to believe this blog has been up for 13 years, and that I have been paying for a webhosting service and not using this blog. I really want to change that.

I hoping for a full revamp of my blog next year, and hope to write more.

When I re-read my old posts, I can’t believe I wrote them. My life is all about my work and career that my personal creative pursuits don’t get the attention that they need. I really need to change that.

Not sure if anyone I know still reads this. If you this pops up in your RSS feeds, let me know.

It won’t shock you to hear that Tesla low-balled demand for the Model 3, but by how much? Er… quite a bit, actually. Elon Musk has revealed that his company expected "1/4 to 1/2" of the pre-orders it got (252,000 worldwide as of this writing) for…

With all the buzz surrounding the upcoming Model 3 unveil and how Tesla will likely book 100,000 reservations within the first 24 hours of reservation opening, we decided to do a little math of our own to see what that may mean given some basic assumptions. We know that there are 221 Tesla stores worldwide that will begin taking Model […]

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Google is finally taking the wraps off of its long-rumored subscription video service at an event in Los Angeles today. YouTube Red is a $9.99 monthly subscription that’ll offer everything on YouTube without ads as well as variety of other content. But most importantly, YouTube Red gives you ad-free playback and the ability to save anything you want to a device for offline playback. YouTube Red will also encompass what was formerly called YouTube Music Key — it’s now known as YouTube Music, will have it’s own dedicated app, and includes a full subscription to Google Play Music.

YouTube Music’s dedicated app is built off of all the learnings Google gained from YouTube Music Key. Its design is centered around playing music fast, easy discovery, the ability to both watch or just listen and giving viewers as much music as possible — not just official versions, but also live music, remixes, content created by the huge variety of YouTube creators out there and more. There’s a slider that you can adjust to filter exactly how big of a net YouTube Music should cast when looking for different content. There’s also the now-standard automatic music stations based on particular songs or things you’ve listened to in the past. If you’re already a Google Play Music subscribers, you’ll also get a subscription to YouTube Red.

Beyond music, YouTube Red also works with the recently-launched YouTube Gaming service as well as Google’s new YouTube Kids section — all of these different content areas will be part of YouTube Red. Naturally, your YouTube Red membership will work across whatever platform you use it on — iOS, Android, the web and "anywhere you sign into YouTube". Presumably, that means you’ll get ad-free playback on devices like the Apple TV and Roku as well as consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

There’s also a whole set of new YouTube Red original content. All told, Google is announcing 10 new original shows that’ll launch on YouTube Red, including video from the massively popular PewDiePie and an as-yet untitled project from the team at CollegeHumor. There’s a variety of content, from full-length films and documentaries to episodic TV-style content. PewDiePie’s show, called Scare PewDiePie, is described as a "reality adventure series" that’ll be made with the creators and executive producers of The Walking Dead (seriously). It’s hard to say if these shows are the kind that’ll drive subscriptions, but original content is table stakes for any subscription video service. And it’s hard to bet against anything PewDiePie is doing at this point.

Indeed, that $9.99 monthly price seems pretty reasonable when you add up everything it gets you — Google Play Music is a full-fledged subscription music service comparable to Spotify and its competitors that all cost $9.99 a month, but when you add in all the other features a YouTube Red subscription gets you, it’s a pretty strong value.

For starters, YouTube Red and YouTube Music will only be available in the US, and YouTube Red will be available on October 28th. YouTube Red Originals will start rolling out to the service early next year, and the YouTube Music app will be out "soon." If you want to give this all a try before putting down your hard-earned cash, US viewers will get a free one month trial.

Are you ready for October 21, 2015? That’s the date that Marty McFly arrives in the future — at least according to the second Back to the Future movie. But if you’re planning on watching the trilogy to celebrate, you’ll only have one streaming option: Amazon Prime.

The team at iFixit is learning a hard, hard lesson about the importance of honoring developer agreements. Apple has banned an iFixit developer account (and consequently, the iFixit app) after the repair-it-yourself outfit tore down a pre-release Apple TV sent out to developers, violating Apple’s terms and conditions. The crew just couldn’t resist deconstructing new gear, apparently. Before you ask, though, iFixit isn’t trying to stir up internet drama. It knew the risks going in, and isn’t about to fight a decision that most anyone could see coming a mile away. This will have ramifications if you relied on iFixit’s (admittedly old) native app for tips: if you’re on iOS, you’ll have to use the company’s mobile website for help from now on. The tradeoff won’t be all that damaging, but it’s safe to say that other devs will think twice about prying open gear that isn’t strictly off-the-shelf.

The first owners are finally taking delivery of the gull-door’d electric on-road SUV they’ve been waiting about three years for: the Tesla Model X. Here’s what we learned from a close look and a quick spin around the parking lot.

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While the EPA is promising to toughen up emissions tests
in the aftermath of the Volkswagen cheating scandal, Tesla founder Elon Musk has a slightly different take: Gas is dead and it’s time to go electric, people.

To make the London Underground greener and more cost effective, Transport for London (TfL) has been trialling a new system that collects and recycles waste energy from train brakes. Over the course of a week, the company says it’s been able to capture electricity at a rate of 1 Megawatt hour per day — enough to slash 5 per cent off its energy bill. The salvaged energy could also be used to run a station as large as Holborn for at least two days every week, TfL claims. The "state-of-the-art regenerative breaking system" is dependent on a new "inverter" set up at a substation near Cloudesely Road, where TfL manages the power sent to the Victoria Line. The "world-first" setup also reduces the amount of heat that’s normally produced by the train’s brakes. Recovering power could, therefore, keep London’s Tube cooler and reduce TfL’s operating costs, leading to cheaper fares. The "inverter" is now in operation full-time, but only on the Victoria line — all the same, it’s good to see TfL exploring new ways to modernise its iconic transport network.

BlackBerry’s upcoming Android phone has been called "Venice" for quite some time, but that’s apparently nothing but a moniker meant to be shed and replaced by its real model name. According to Evleaks and N4BB, it will be released as the BlackBerry Priv, presumably due to its privacy features. Evleaks also revealed a new stock photo of the phone, which you can see below the fold. Don’t expect to see anything new, though: it’s still a QWERTY slider with a curved screen and an 18-megapixel camera. Hopefully, we’ll find out more about it and its release date soon. If the device turns out to have killer features, then it doesn’t matter what it’s called: after all, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Although Mystery Science Theater 3000 was dedicated to making fun of bad movies, not all the movies the show featured were truly awful. Many were merely crappy, but some of them were so ineptly made, so heinous, so unwatchable that trying to imagine viewing them without Joel, Mike and the ’Bots is terrifying. Here are the most wretched movies they had to sit through—and no, Manos: The Hands of Fate is not #1.